Hoping for a shocker. Will settle for a performance that encourages.

ESPN2 somewhere around the 10 pm spot.

If you like to break out the liveblog from the site, Click Here.

Otherwise it is below.

UPDATE: The epic MAC football battle that is still going on ESPN2 has pushed the start time ot around 10:25.

That seems to be a strong theme. Even when they aren’t in the story directly. Vindication. Redemption. Anything else you want to call it.

Go figure, since Frank Cignetti’s father was a WVU assistant then had to follow Bobby Bowden when he went to FSU, there might be a little interest in his success.

Also at the time Cignetti was raising a couple of sons, one of whom was Frank Cignetti Jr., who spent 12 years in the town.

“There are a lot of great memories,” Cignetti Jr. said. “I played Little League baseball there, played football, had a lot of friends.”

But it was only a temporary stop, for at heart Cignetti Jr. wasn’t really a Mountaineer.

“Make no mistake, we’re Pittsburgh Panther fans,” he said. “Look at the biographies of my family. My dad was born in western Pennsylvania, his first job was at the University of Pittsburgh for Dan Hart. It just so happened that Dad got a tremendous opportunity to go be Bobby Bowden’s offensive coordinator at West Virginia.”

“Oh, I’ve been a West Virginia fan since I coached there,” Frank Sr. said from his home in Indiana, Pa., where at 72 he is finally able to enjoy retirement. “I watch them when they are on television. I’ve followed them through Coach Nehlen and Rich Rodriguez and now Bill Stewart.”

But it changed when his son home came to Pitt.

But make no mistake, the story emphasizes how Cignetti and Wannstedt have the same offensive philosophies and what they want to do. It’s just that Cignetti is doing things that, you know, use the talent.

“We want to go from good to great,” Cignetti said. “Our players are hungry to get better. It’s fun to see guys feel good about themselves, and it has really been satisfying to see our offensive personnel build confidence through success. There’s a belief that whenever they step onto the field they can put the ball in the end zone.

“It’s our job to put them in a position to be successful. We’ve been able to put Dorin in different positions where he can have some success. (Tight end) Nate Byham and (flanker) Oderick Turner have put the team goals ahead of individual goals, and those guys have provided solid leadership all season.”

Cignetti plays humble quite well. Deflecting credit to the players and even going so far as to say Matt Cavanaugh very well could have had similar success this year as the OC (riiiigggghhhht). But again, it comes back to the players who succeeded after nothing working right for some time. Hence the feature on Dickerson and Stull.

The two have been doing it ever since. Stull has thrown for 18 touchdowns with just four interceptions. Dickerson has 43 catches for 496 yards and those 10 touchdowns.

“I knew I could play here,” Dickerson said. “Not just play, but be a playmaker.”

“All Dorin needed was a chance,” Stull said.

“The biggest turning point in my life came when Coach Cignetti came here,” Dickerson said.

“Dorin’s ability really fit what Coach Cignetti wanted to do,” Stull said. “He’s a freak. He’s 6-2, 235, runs a 4.34 and can jump over 40 inches. There’s just no way a linebacker can cover him.”

Stull laughed as only a quarterback who loves to see such mismatches can.

“It’s stealing,” he said. “That’s what Coach Cignetti calls it. He says we all should go to jail because we’re stealing touchdowns.”

Here’s another piece on Stull succeeding and beating back the critics, while admitting the change in OC’s worried him.

“It was tough for me. Having a system for four years, and knowing it like it was the back of my hand, it was tough. There was some doubt whether I was going to be able to pick it up and feel comfortable with it,” he said.

He knew the system, but did not exactly thrive in it. That was the problem.

As for Coach Wannstedt, he’s in his own redemption and vindication storyline. He’s in a good place winning and succeeding at his alma mater. The success now, comes in no small part to the administration sticking with him.

“Our chancellor stepped up,” Wannstedt said. “I had had two or three years. We talked about the direction of the program. I said, if we were to go forward this or that must happen. He stepped up, made a commitment and extended our program.”

That was a few days before Pitt was to play at West Virginia in 2007, a few days before the upset of the century.

Things took hold from there, and the patience paid off.

Now it’s understandable why people would question Wannstedt at the beginning. College football was going in one direction; he was going in another. The game had evolved into Madden football, spread offenses, speed everywhere, bubble screens, zone blocking.

That wasn’t, however, what Wannstedt believed in.

He liked the pro-set offense, quarterback under center, a fullback, a tight end. He liked to run and run, then throw when he had teams looking for the run.

“We’ll probably be one of the dinosaurs left that are lining up with the fullback and a tailback and trying to pound people and play-action pass,” Wannstedt said. “In all the Super Bowls and national championships that I’ve been associated with, that’s what we did. Football goes in cycles. But you have to do what you believe in and what you understand.”

I won’t pretend I was not one of those who questioned the extension. I was not arguing for his firing, but an extension at that point in year 3 seemed ridiculous. The extension seemed more that the school and particularly the money and powers in the University just like Coach Wannstedt a lot and were satisfied with the fundraising and being able to get along with the coach. Happily, I was wrong.

Of course, down in Morgantown, there’s more than a little pressure on Coach Stewart. So, he looks rather wistfully at what Pitt did. Especially the patience.

“This is five years in the works,” Stewart said. “It is five years of getting better each year and adding to the repertoire.”

Stewart has also spoken in recent weeks about how the Pitt fan base showed patience with Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, even as Wannstedt went through his first season with five wins, his second with six and third with five

In Stewart’s opinion, that patience has been paramount to Pitt gaining national prominence, and so, too, is a maturation of a roster that Wannstedt recruited and then cultivated.

Nothing self-serving there. Except that Stewart wasn’t radically changing the system being run — on either side of the ball.

That’s what tonight’s game will be with Texas. Don’t be fooled by their first half struggles with Iowa. When even the Iowa faithful were stunned by the performance and what the Hawkeyes were doing (though knowing it wouldn’t last). This is a Texas team that is loaded.

That doesn’t mean Pitt has no chance, but it isn’t a very large one. This is a big step up in weight class that will be good for Pitt to find out just how far they have to go. I’ll be liveblogging around 10pm tonight. The game’s on ESPN2.

It’s been a while since the two teams faced each other.

The programs haven’t faced off since their only previous meeting, a 91-87 Pitt win on Nov. 29, 1991 in the Preseason NIT.

Longtime Longhorns fans may remember Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, who hit a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Texas 55-54 while playing for TCU in 1986.

Connections. Tenuous ones, but connections nonetheless.

As for beating Wichita State, the Shockers’ beat writer thought that this game already has them ready to face Southern Illinois.

The Panthers handled the Shockers 68-55 with the suffocating defense and efficient offense that SIU so often uses. Pitt’s physical man-to-man defense forced 24 turnovers. Its patient offense worked the shot clock and wore down WSU on Monday in the CBE Classic at the Sprint Center.

“They’re like a football team,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “It’s like a team that was able to milk the clock. They kept the chains moving and it was very difficult.”

WSU (2-1) made 18 baskets, nine in each half. It committed 13 turnovers in the first half, 11 in the second. Every time it made a run, Pitt turned up its defense and forced turnovers or missed shots.

Even as Pitt was clearly the better team you could see lapses that allowed WSU to make runs. That has to be expected with a young team. Concentration, focus and not letting up are things that have to be learned.

The Pitt Panthers shrugged off a second-half rally to dispose of Wichita State, 68-55, on Monday night in the semifinals of the CBE Classic at Sprint Center.

“We didn’t play great,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said, “but we played hard.”

The Shockers made two runs early in the second half to get to within 5 and 3 points. Pitt, happily, did not panic or press. They just made more plays and got their game going.

Pitt was in control throughout against Wichita State, which fell to 2-1. The Shockers trailed 32-21 at halftime, but with the sizable black-and-gold clad Wichita State contingent of fans roaring its approval, Wichita State got within 43-40 when Kenny Manigault set up Durley’s layup with 13 minutes to play.

But the Panthers put the game away with a 16-6 run, including nine points by Gibbs, who earlier had missed two of three free throws after he was fouled on a three-point attempt.

“We thought we had quicker guards, and we wanted to use penetration,” Dixon said of Woodall and Gibbs, who went to the line 17 times. “They have longer, bigger guards, but we thought we had better guys off the dribble, so we wanted to take advantage of that. We spread the floor a little more, and that was effective for us.”

Gibbs didn’t let his missed free throws affect him.

“You’ve got to keep playing,” he said. “That’s what coach Dixon stresses. Don’t let one end of the court affect the other end. Just keep playing hard.”

The play by Travon Woodall was big. He benefited from plenty of attention on Ashton Gibbs. He attacked the basket, fought to get rebounds and played solid defense.

It was Woodall who answered the call when the Shockers concentrated their efforts on stopping Gibbs at all costs. And the best part about his performance was that it entailed much more than scoring. Woodall also led the team in rebounds (6), assists (5) — and much to coach Jamie Dixon’s chagrin — turnovers (6).

“He played really well,” Dixon said. “The thing I’m most proud of is the rebounds. In the last two games, he’s had six defensive rebounds. We’ve been after our guards to rebound more, and he’s done that.”

Woodall realized early on that he would have an opportunity to shine. Wichita State made it clear that someone other than Gibbs was going to have to be the hero for the Panthers.

“My teammates put me in a great position,” Woodall said. “The way they were defending Ashton they were giving me open lanes to the basket.”

Woodall capitalized by getting his teammates easy opportunities. Junior center Gary McGhee scored a career-high 10 points, thanks mostly to Woodall, who found him often off penetration. Woodall also got to the free-throw line 10 times and made seven of them.

Three of his turnovers happened in the final few minutes with the game decided. Not killer, but something to work on. Personally, what I really liked was that as the game went on Woodall found guys inside more.

He found McGhee and while it wasn’t with grace, there was almost a dawning realization by McGhee that he really could out-muscle guys for position and to finish. Just encouraging to see.

This game tonight puts a rather silly streak for Coach Dixon on the line.

When a reporter pointed out that Pitt was 35-0 in November under Dixon, the coach noted it’s not the only month in which his team plays well. “We’ve been pretty good in December, January and February, too,” he said. For the record, Pitt is 104-31 in those three months under Dixon. And in March under Dixon? The Panthers are 27-14.

Well the next step is to actually have a record in April.

My hosting company had a major server failure overnight. It’s been slow slogging to get it back up. Appears to be on the return.

Fingers crossed.